Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel captain Dwayne Bravo said there is no need to panic after their meltdown against the Barbados Tridents in the Limacol Caribbean Premier League Twenty20 match at Warner Park in St Kitts late Thursday night.

The Tridents, led by T&T’s Kieron Pollard and including his countrymen Ravi Rampaul, Rayad Emrit and William Perkins, beat the Red Steel by 69 runs. An excellent bowling performance from Jason Holder, who took four top-order wickets, steered the Tridents on course to victory.

Batting first, the Tridents recovered from 102 for four in 14.3 overs to post 174 for five off their allotted 20, with Raymon Reifer slamming an unbeaten 65 (41 balls) and Pollard hitting 34 (15).

The Red Steel were dismissed for 105 in 16.5 overs with Holder taking four for 27 from four overs and Emrit grabbing three for 23 off 3.5 overs.

“I thought we did quite well in the field restricting the Tridents to under 180, but we were just not able to build enough momentum with our batting,” Bravo said after the loss. “We played a few poor shots, and there are a few things for us to learn ahead of an important game on Saturday (today).

But we have been playing well throughout the tournament, winning six matches and losing just two, so there is no need to press the panic button,” he added.

The Tridents started slowly when they were sent in to bat first and only Perkins scored at a decent rate in the early stages of their innings. The wicket keeper was a surprise call up to the Barbados team—he was not a member of the original squad and having not played a game of T20 cricket in 12 months—but he repaid their faith with a breezy knock.

Once again, Samuel Badree bowled brilliantly during the fielding restrictions for the Red Steel, conceding just 13 runs and removing the dangerous Dwayne Smith and then Perkins. Shoaib Malik then became the leading run scorer in this year’s CPL as he put together a 38-ball 35 to keep the Tridents’ innings together.

While he managed to keep the singles coming, the boundaries were harder to find and in the end Malik fell attempting to force the pace, caught in the deep off the bowling of Gabriel. A brief rain delay held up proceedings, but upon the resumption Pollard set about helping his team set a defendable total.

In reply, the Red Steel got off to the worst possible start as Kevin O’Brien fell in the first over attempting a big shot over long off. Ross Taylor was dropped on two when Jeevan Mendis failed to take a tough chance over his shoulder, but this did not prove costly for the Tridents as just two balls later the New Zealand batsman was brilliantly caught by Smith.

At 14 for two, some rebuilding was needed, and captain Dwayne Bravo promoted himself up the order to carry out the task. He could only watch as Evin Lewis, the Red Steel’s leading run scorer in the tournament, tried to go over the top and was caught off the bowling of Holder which brought Darren Bravo to the crease.

It was the Bravo brothers together again, and not for the first time the Red Steel’s hopes rested on them. But it was not to be this time as Holder picked up his fourth wicket, a spectacular one-handed diving catch by Pollard saw Dwayne Bravo go for just 16.

Nicholas Pooran was dropped twice during his bright innings of 33 off 23 balls, although neither was a straightforward chance. But Darren Bravo was not as fortunate as he was caught by Pollard on the boundary.

Eventually, Pooran’s luck ran out as he, too, fell to a catch on the boundary edge. And with the departure of Pooran, so too went the momentum of the innings.